


The Moon above, The Sun below

by Maewn



Series: Across the stars [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-03-18 04:26:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3555977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maewn/pseuds/Maewn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Guardians battle the Darkness. Brave souls are they who stand as Earth's last line of defense. Artemis has only just begun her journey, there is much more that lurks in the deepest reaches of space...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rising ever higher

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the way I had originally planned for Artemis's story to continue, but hey, this is where it went. I am actually pretty happy with how this chapter is written, so here it is. Please leave comments and kudos; I always love to hear feedback on my work. Anyway, enjoy.

The moon was a terrible place, Artemis decides as she slams another ammo pack into her rifle and examining the horizon again from her hiding spot. Cold and dead and a field of gleaming rock that threatened to trip her every time she moved.

She voices the thought to her Ghost, who hovers at her shoulder, his faint whirring a comforting sound. He chuckles, the sound rather odd for a creation of metal and the Traveler’s Light.

She glances at him for a moment before returning her gaze to the horizon. “What is so funny?” she is used to her voice now, the sound no longer so alien to her. It has taken months and hours of talking to Phi and Nes, the two encouraging the discussion of anything and everything in the time between their missions.

They are a team of sorts, already building a name for themselves within the ranks of the Guardians. They haven’t decided on a name yet. Artemis muses on the idea of calling their group Team Badass, but ultimately decides that it is too…something. She doesn’t have a word for it.

Her learning about the world she has returned to goes slowly some days and it irritates her when she has no words for a feeling or an object. She feels the irritation welling up inside her now but shoves it aside as her Ghost answers.

“It could be worse,” he answers, the laughter still present in his voice as he drifts around her head. “there could be zombies.”

“…zombies?” she sounds the word out carefully.

“The walking dead, re-animated corpses,” Ghost clarifies.

“So like me?” she says. She doesn’t remember being…dead, but when she dreams sometimes she sees an empty abyss rising up to swallow her. She doesn’t sleep well afterwards, shaking in her bed, chilled to the bone for reasons she does not understand.

Ghost makes a chirrup of indignation, “Hardly, you are Awoken, that’s something completely different.”

She doesn’t ask how the two words are different but is distracted by a wave of enemies. The topic is not mentioned again.

Two weeks later as she recovers from a deep wound to her leg, she manages to make it to the nearby lounge without asking for help for once. The lounge is nearly empty as Artemis peruses one of the large tomes that Ghost had managed to find on the history of the City. She struggles over the words, Ghost helping her sound out the strange syllables that clunk, rock like over her tongue.

It is here where Phi finds her, Nes slipping into the room after the Warlock, almost catlike in his movements, despite his size.

“Watcha reading?” Phi asks, plopping down beside the Hunter, limbs askew. Artemis taps the cover, raising the book so the other woman can see before returning to the pages.

“Any good?” Nes asks, seating himself by a window that looks out over the City.

Artemis puzzles over a word for a moment longer, before sighing and putting the book down.

“It’s okay,” she says, “I don’t know some of the words.”

“What words are you stuck on?” Nes questions, no condemnation in his voice for her inability to read as some have had.

“This one,” she points out one of them, turning the book so the Titan can see. Phi tilts her head, squinting at the letters.

“Ah!” she cries, “Prestigious.”

“What does it mean?” Artemis asks.

“Respected or esteemed,” Nes answers, leaning back against the wall, watching her. Artemis rolls the word over in her mouth. She sounds out each letter until the word fits together in the way that it should.

She voices the word aloud, “P-prestigious?”

“That’s it,” Phi says, smiling, her orange eyes bright in her grey face.

The trio spends the rest of the afternoon in the lounge, reading through the book. Artemis wishes for many days like this. Warm and peaceful afternoons with her friends. She prays it would remain so.

But all things change, it is the way of the world.

The day comes when Artemis receives a request to investigate a missing Guardian on the moon. She is in her room, her friends beside her when Ghost chirps, “Incoming message from the Speaker, it’s a mission request for the moon. Search and rescue.”

“For me?” Artemis questions.

“Yes.”

“When does he want us to leave?” the Hunter asks.

“Today.”

She sighs, glancing at her friends. Phi is sprawled over the bed, her legs dangling over the edge, Nes is seated on the floor, his head tilted back against the bed. Yellow eyes flicker to her. “They had to call for you sometime,” he says. “I’ve got a bounty mission on Venus later this week, myself.”

“True,” Artemis replies.

Phi pats her leg, a reassuring smile on her lips. “It’ll be fine. And when you come back we can have a shopping trip to celebrate!”

Artemis laughs, as her Ghost bumps her shoulder gently.

She steadies herself with a breath, “Ghost, bring my sniper rifle, the new hand cannon and the rocket launcher.”

“Expecting trouble?” her Ghost asks, after depositing the requested weapons into her hands.

“Always,” Artemis says, loading each one with care, snapping ammo in with precision accuracy. “I had to deal with Hive when I was scouting last time. I ran out of ammo and I didn’t have the rocket launcher.”

Her Ghost chirps. “Should I bring medical supplies too?”

“Yes, that missing Guardian may need assistance.”

“If they’re still alive,” Nes chimes in.

Artemis pauses, she hadn’t thought of that. She nods, busying herself with preparations. She swings her legs over the edge of the bed.

“Alright, everyone out,” she declares.

Phi groans, “But I’m comfortable here!”

“Too bad,” Artemis says helping her up. Phi grins and hugs her. The contact does not scare her as much as it had the first time Phi had done it. It is…comforting.

Nes stands, resting one hand on the Hunter’s shoulder. “Be safe,” he rumbles.

“I will.”

Artemis thinks over those words as she dives for cover on the surface of the moon. The Hive are many and she is but one Guardian amongst them. The Guardian she came to find is dead, their Ghost missing. This is a death trap. A thrall jumps at her and she blasts it away, scrambling back as more appear.

They are endless, one dies and more arise to fill its place. Ghost is whizzing around her, dodging Hive as he tries to hail the ship for an emergency evac.

Artemis swears violently, her heel crunching into the skull of a downed thrall. Ghost beeps, his voice loud above the din, “I’ve found the Ghost of the other Guardian, it’s inside the Hive Caverns.”

“I can’t get it now!” Artemis yells, slamming another ammo pack into her hand cannon and taking down an Acolyte that had gotten too close for comfort.

She makes a snap decision. The Guardian’s Ghost might have something valuable. Might as well try to salvage what she can of this mission. “Go and get it! I’ll hold them off!”

“There are too many!” Her Ghost snaps.

“Then you’d better work fast!” Artemis says, nailing another Acolyte in between the eyes.

“I’ll draw them out, now hurry!”

Her Ghost hesitates but cloaks and darts away. Artemis only has time to take a breath and bring her gun up before they are on her.

She loses count of how many times she kills, the cycle is repeated over and over. Punch, kick, shoot, the motions almost effortless now.

But she is tiring, her body is weary. She throws a knife into the eye socket of a thrall as plasma energy screams past her. A Wizard.

A few shots later and the last of the Acolytes falls before her. Her chest hurts from a punch that the Fallen soldier had gotten in before she shot it. The Wizard shrieks, hurling balls of purple fire and she barely manages to avoid.

She grits her teeth and aims for the head. One shot, two, three. An explosion of light and the creature is gone. She coughs, takes a breath. She is…light, floating like a feather on the wind. Pain lances across her chest, a glance down and she sees a glint of metal in her armor.

The armor has been sealed to keep her safe from the elements but now all it is doing is keeping her blood inside.

She coughs again, blood splattering the inside of her helmet. Oh, not good.

She drops to the ground, her breath rasping in her ears. She can see Earth, the glowing blue ball of life in the vast darkness of space.  

She barely hears Ghost return, his voice faint and panicking. She does not feel the ship swoop down and carry her away. The abyss looms before her, dark and empty. She falls into it; there are no stars to guide her way…

Voices find her in the darkness, faint and dim and she fades into the light with nary a sound.


	2. Bright and shining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been lingering on this chapter for a while and I think it is as good as it is going to get. Read, enjoy and as always I love hearing feedback on my work. Anyway, enjoy!

Waking is the hardest part. Slow and sluggish, a murmur of voices far above her head that she cannot understand. A faint whirring…her Ghost?

She struggles to discern anything through the haze that is her mind. Where is she? The Tower?

Yes, that must be it. Ghost had gotten her away…she wonders if he had gotten the data that the dead Guardian’s Ghost had had.

Her chest feels heavy, her breath rasping through her body with terrible slowness. Each breath of air oozes like tar from her lips.

It hurts and strangely she is glad of it. Hurt means she is alive, she has not gone into the terrifying abyss that swallowed her once and that she was brought back from by her Ghost.

She can still hear voices somewhere, far above her. She makes out a few words.

“…sleeping…recovery…”

“…when?”

“…unsure…”

She would frown if she could. The words don’t tell her anything. She tries to focus, to hear more, but the darkness drags her down again, warm and comforting…

A soft voice draws her from the ebony void, how much later she cannot tell. It no longer hurts to breathe, she is healing.

“Will she wake up?” Phi’s voice is worried and close. Nes answers nearly a second later, a low rumble from somewhere by what Artemis tentatively identifies as her feet.

“Ghost said she should be waking soon,” the Titan says, the low whirring of his Ghost accompanying his words.

“She has mostly healed,” the familiar voice of Artemis’s Ghost chirps, “she’s just resting now.”

Artemis tries opening her eyes. She can feel her eyelids fluttering, struggling against a weight that seems to drape itself over her body.

There is a low gasp that escapes her as she manages to open her eyes at last, the room a hazy blur.

“…Ghost?” she half-whispers.

“I’m right here,” he assures her and she feels the metal of his shell bump gently the edge of her head.

Artemis feels relief flood her, a choked sob trapped in her throat. She was _alive._

“Morning, sunshine,” Phi says, her orange eyes bright in her grey face as she leaned over the side of the bed.

Artemis gives a weak chuckle, “…if this is your idea of a good morning, I’d hate to see your bad morning.”

“Oh, her bad mornings are a treasure,” Nes rumbles, his large frame finally coming into focus at the end of Artemis’s bed. “Hilarious, I assure you.”

Phi gives a huff of indignation, turning up her nose at her friend.

“How long was I out?” the Hunter asks as her Ghost floats to rest beside her hip, blue lights blinking.

“Nearly a week,” Nes reports, yellow eyes somber. He moves to sit in a nearby chair on her left.

Artemis nods, trying to gather the strength to lay a hand on her Ghost. She needs that small bit of contact. Her fingers twitch but don’t move. Phi gently lifts the hand, arranging the fingers so they lie over the cool metal.

Ghost gives a quiet metallic whirr. “You feel okay?”

“I’m not dead,” Artemis says, “you saved me.”

Ghost is silent for a long moment, “It was very close.”

She remembers the Earth, a blue ball in the darkness of space, glowing with life.

“You were afraid?” she asks, tilting her head so she can see the blue lights that denote his eyes.

“We all were,” Phi says, her slim hand curling around Artemis’s wrist.

“Oh.” Artemis is quiet. “The Guardian was dead when I got there.”

“The Speaker already knows,” Ghost informs her, his shell shifting under her fingers.

“Did you find the other Ghost?”

Her Ghost sighs, “It was already gone when I got to it. I managed to get the information I needed from what was left.”

Artemis closes her eyes; so all their work had not been in vain.

“Do you want to go to sleep?” Phi asks, “We can leave.”

“No,” the Hunter says, “please stay.”

Ghost chirps from beneath her hand, “I’m not leaving anyways.”

“Good,” Artemis breathes, reveling in the sense of peace that has settled over her. She is at the Tower, surrounded by her friends, safe from the Hive, the Fallen and whatever else was lurking out in the darkness of the universe.

“Phi,” she says at last, settling against the pillows, eyes still closed.

“Hmm?” the Warlock asks.

“Can you tell me a story about the old gods?”

Phi gives a quiet hum, “Any story in particular?”

Artemis shakes her head, “No.”

“Alright,” Phis says and Artemis feels the bed dip under the Warlock’s weight. “Once, long ago, the goddesses of the hunt, of marriage, and of love were warring with one another. For they had received a gift marked ‘for the fairest’, a golden fruit from the goddess of discord. Such was their warring that chief of the gods asked a mortal to decide the recipient…”

Artemis falls asleep to the sound of Phi’s voice, dreaming of distant battles and bold warriors.

It is a month before she is well enough to leave the medical wing. And every day of that month, her friends are beside her. They celebrate when she takes her first wobbly steps, that grace for which Hunters are known for slowly returning.

A mission request for the Cosmodrome arrives a week later. Artemis is practicing her marksmanship, Nes beside her aiming with near pinpoint accuracy. Phi is keeping score. The winds that blow across the training grounds are cool, hinting at colder weather to come. But for now, the landscape is brown and dark, uncovered by snow.

Artemis’s shot splinters the target, just missing the bull’s eye. Nes hums, his own rifle braced against his shoulder. A crack and a hole appears to the right of Artemis’s.

Nes mutters a quiet swear under his breath. Phi calls out the score, “Artemis-136, Nes-134!”

“Two points behind,” the Titan grumbles.

“Let’s go again,” Artemis offers.

“Next one to hit the bull’s eye wins, no contest,” Nes says.

“You’re on,” Artemis says. “Paint rounds? So we can see who shot where?”

“Sounds good,” the Titan says, reloading his gun with blue paint rounds, while Artemis loads hers with red.

“You got this!” Her Ghost cheers from atop the Hunter’s head.

Nes’s Ghost beeps something that sounds something like an insult. Artemis’s Ghost huffs, “Well that’s just rude!”

“Easy Ghost,” Artemis says, reaching up to pat the grey shell of her companion. “He’s just jealous that I got you the new casing upgrade.”

Ghost preens, “It does look good doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” the Hunter smiles, taking careful aim. “Ready, Nes?”

“Ready.”

Artemis takes a breath, peering down her scope.

Phi, standing on the sidelines, calls over. “On my mark! Three, two, one!”

Two cracks ring out, sharp and piercing.

Artemis frowns. The bull’s eye is two different shades of paint.

“I guess we both win?” Nes says hesitantly.

“It’s a draw,” Phi chirps, eyeing the target.

Artemis sighs, about to reply when her Ghost speaks up. “Any available Guardians are requested to report to the Cosmodrome to help clear the Skywatch.”

Nes glances over, yellow eyes gleaming in the noon sunlight.

“Feel like killing a few Fallen?” he asks.

Artemis nods, “Better Fallen than Hive.”

“Agreed,” Phi says, walking over, her Ghost resting on her shoulder. The Warlock has already slipped on her gloves, purple Void energy shimmering in her palms.

“Together then?” Artemis asks. After what happened on the Moon, she doesn’t want to run missions by herself.

“Sounds good,” Nes says, his Ghost dropping his assault rifle into the Titan’s waiting hands. He reloads the gun, movement quick and practiced.

Artemis smiles, reloading her sniper rifle. She snaps the ammo pack in with a click and grins. “Let’s take back Earth.”   



	3. Glowing and Golden

The Cosmodrome is filled with the sounds of fighting, rifle rounds snapping through the air. The ground shakes as another grenade goes off nearby.

Artemis is hunkered down behind a large rock, Phi beside her. Artemis’s Ghost sits on her shoulder, chirping enemy positions every few minutes.

Nes is on a nearby ridge, reloading his rifle for the fourth time in nearly an half an hour. The clearing away of Fallen has been relatively easy, but the dropships keep coming, reinforcing the enemy.

The Guardian line of offense has already been pushed back, almost to the edge of the territory.

“Why do the bad guys never take a break?” Phi complains, popping up from cover and almost immediately dropping back down as gunfire whizzes by her head.

“That would be too easy,” Nes rumbles over the com, the clunk of his ammo clip loud even over the small distance that is between them.

“And when is life ever easy?” Artemis quips.

“True,” her Ghost remarks.

“By the Stars!” Phi swears, peering over cover, taking shots at the Dregs that are huddling behind a large piece of metal that juts out of the landscape. “There are so bloody many!”

“Less talking, more shooting!” Nes barks. There is a clink as the Titan hurls two flash bang grenades. They go off about five seconds later; Artemis can feel the ground shiver beneath her.

Nearly two hours pass before the cries of the Fallen are silenced and the Guardians have a reprieve from battle.

“The Skywatch is almost cleared,” Artemis’s Ghost announces, cheerful. “Current estimate standing at 78% cleared.”

“That’s good,” Artemis says, checking her ammo again. She’s down to half her bag now.

“Phi?” the Hunter asks, glancing over at her friend. “How much ammo do you have?”

Phi looks through her own ammo bag, making a noise of irritation. “’Bout a third.”

“Nes?”

The Titan’s yellow eyes flicker to her for a moment before refocusing on the landscape beyond. “Half.”

“Reinforcements are coming in from the City,” Artemis’s Ghost reports as Nes’s own Ghost chirps the news.

“Good,” the Titan says, “We could use the help.” He pulls out a rocket launcher, one that Artemis recognizes as the Deacon RS/3. He pops a charge in and glances through the scope, scanning the area for more enemies.

He swears loudly, drawing both of his teammate’s gazes.

“What is it?” Phi asks.

“Wolves,” Nes snarls and pulls the trigger. An explosion rises from the far side of the Skywatch. Screams of rage and pain echo into the air.

Artemis winces, she has heard rumors of theses Wolves, part of the Fallen that once served the Queen of the Reef, but that were now running rogue and being hunted down by agents of the Queen and Guardians alike.

The Queen’s Emissary, Petra Venj, had specifically petitioned for aid from the Tower months previous. Nes had fought and claimed a few of the bounties then and of the three of them, he is the only one to have battled the Wolves.

The Titan had described them as savage and battle-crazed. He shoots again and yanks the spent cartridge out and replaces it in seconds. Artemis checks her sniper rifle before dropping into cover and finding a target.

“A few bullets won’t stop them,” Nes hisses even the Fallen that she has aimed and shot at shakes off the headshot like it hadn’t happened, “You need almost an armory’s worth of ammo to even make a dent in their armor.” He fires again, dropping the rocket launcher as it overheats with a sharp hiss.

“Then we need better weapons,” Phi says, rising and Artemis glances up in time to see purple Void energy gathering in her friend’s hands. “Eat this, ya Fallen ass-hats!” she shouts and hurls it at the oncoming horde of enemies.

Nes gives a low whistle as the orb explodes into three smaller orbs and detonates. Enemies are sent flying, the ground scorched and burning. Some rise, apparently unfazed, other stay down.

Nes rises, cracking his knuckles. “Guess I’d better start making a dent in these annoying Wolves myself.” He glances at his friends. “Try not to hit me, please.”

Artemis nods and Nes takes off, heading across the ground between them and the Wolves. Nes is tough, he would be fine. Phi plops to the ground, winded. “Give me a sec,” she says, waving a hand. “That was a lot of energy.”

“You’ve got five minutes,” the Hunter replies, peering through her scope.

Nes moves fast, even for a Titan. It’s a fluid movement, like water over the rough terrain. He slams into the nearest Fallen, one armored fist knocking the Dreg clean off its feet and into a nearby Vandal who shrieks.

Artemis hits that one with a headshot. It is knocked back but remains alive. On the field, Nes leaps and slams the ground with both fists. Arc light swirls around him and out, sweeping over the foes with a roar.

The Titan quickly makes a retreat, managing to take out most of the Wolves as he goes.

Phi sits upright, reaching for her rifle, and helps provide a steady stream of cover fire for Nes. The Titan returns to their cover, retrieving his rocket launcher as he does.

“Got most of them,” Artemis says, carefully aiming and _finally_ taking down a Fallen Captain, golden light glimmering over the barrel of her rifle.

“Yeah,” Nes says, loading another cartridge into the rocket launcher.

Ghost chirps, “Reinforcements have arrived.”

Guardians appear from shimmers of white light, pouring onto the battlefield, taking up strategic positions. A Warlock Exo appears next to their team, signaling them to pull back.

Artemis slings her ammo bag across her shoulder, rising from her position. “Ghost, the ship.”

“You got it.”

Moments later, they are all safely aboard their own vessels and making their way back to the Tower for some much needed rest.  

“Do you think, all of the Wolves will be caught?” Phi asks, her voice distorted somewhat by the comm.

“They will be,” Nes says, his own voice roughened by weariness and fatigue. “We’ve already gotten half of them if the bounty board is correct.”

“That’s good,” Phi remarks.

Artemis agrees, remembering how the Fallen had shook off their shots like they were nothing. “We need to get stronger,” she says. “Much stronger.”

The Darkness will return and they need to be ready. For anything.

But for now, Artemis thinks, leaning back in her seat, she is content to fight. And with her friends at her side, she feels as though anything is possible.

“Sushi sound good to everyone?” Phi asks suddenly, “My treat. I’m starving.”

“Sounds good to me,” Nes rumbles.

“…I’ve never had it,” Artemis says, her face flushing even though no one else save Ghost can see.

There is a sudden silence from Phi and then, “You are going to love it! There is fish and rice and they do this thing where they add—!”

Nes cuts across her, “It’ll be good, we promise.”

“Good?” Phi says, her tone indignant, “It will be _awesome_!”

Artemis laughs. “Alright.”

They end up in rather small sushi place on the lower edge of the Tower, in a side section of the market district. Phi orders everything and they take it out to a small grassy area overlooking the City.

Artemis examines the ‘chopsticks’ with unease. “How _does_ one eat with these?”

“Let me show you,” Phi says, grinning. She wields the utensils with grace. “Ta-da!” she holds up a piece of what is apparently Oshi sushi. “Easy.”

Nes rolls his eyes, “Took me the better part of an hour the first time.”

It takes a few tries but Artemis manages to grasp the concept.

“How you people eat with those things is beyond me,” her Ghost comments, resting in the grass beside her.

“Practice, Ghost, lots of practice,” Artemis says.

“True that,” Nes comments, popping the last piece of sushi into his mouth and chewing.

“Hey!” Phi cries, “That was mine!”

“I didn’t hear you call dibs,” Nes says after swallowing. “No dibs means it’s whoever grabs it first.”

Artemis giggles at Phi’s indignant expression. This, she thinks, is what she wants to protect. This family she has built for herself, from the ashes of what she had been. The way of life they live.

She sits back, watching the smaller Warlock attempt to tackle the much larger Titan in revenge.

“Ghost,” she murmurs and he blinks his blue lights at her.

“What?”

“Record this.” She gestures towards her friends. Phi is clinging to Nes’s armor as he runs, trying to dislodge her.

“You got it.”

She wants to remember this moment, this scene. And if she can use it for blackmail at some point, well, that’s up to her, isn’t it? 


	4. The Moon above, The Sun below

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Black Garden awaits.

They move forwards quickly and quietly. The Black Garden stretches out before them, vast and beautiful, if terrifying.

The air is heavy, the only noise their breath and the soft sound of their feet against the ground.

The second fireteam is only steps behind them.

“Ghost, are you getting all of this?” Artemis whispers.

“Recording and uploading to the Cryptarch database as we speak,” her Ghost confirms.

“Good.”

Even if they fall here, the next Guardians will know what they are up against for the next fight.

“Almost there,” an Exo Warlock says, their yellow eyes blinking as they scan the area.

“Ten meters to Vex Gate conflux,” a human Titan announces.

“Ready to make history?” Phi asks, almost bouncing up to Artemis.

“Hopefully a good history,” Nes says, rechecking his rifle for what has to be the twentieth time that hour.

“Gods guide us,” the last member of the second fireteam, a female human Hunter, murmurs.

“Five meters,” the human Titan says.

They glide forwards. Four meters, three, two.

“In we go,” Phi says and they leap.

The Heart of the Black Garden thrums with life. It is guarded but the Vex worshipers are quickly cut down as the Guardians aim their weapons at the Heart.

“So,” Ghost hums, hovering around Artemis’s head. “Think you can kill a god?”

Lightning flashes from the Heart, sinking into a nearby statue.

“We can try,” Artemis murmurs.

“Flank the enemy!” Nes calls as the statue comes to life. They fight for what seems like hours. The Heart brings to life two more statues in that time, each one tougher than the last.

Phi’s left leg is pinned beneath rubble and the Exo guards her, keeping the Vex minions that scurry around away from the injured Guardian.

The rest are scattered around the area in teams of two. Artemis and Nes hold a higher vantage point, while the other Titan and Hunter remain on the ground level. Artemis peers down her scope and with four more shots takes down the last of the statues.

“Fire on the Heart!” the human Titan calls.

Gunfire is the only sound for the next two minutes and the Heart shakes, glows with an electric blue light and explodes in a column of white flame.

When they can see again, the Heart is gone.

“…We’re back! On Mars! The shroud of Darkness is lifting, and Light returns to the Traveler!” Ghost cheers.

Artemis gives a weary laugh, resting her head against her rifle. “We did it.”

“Come on,” Nes murmurs. “Let’s go home.”

The six Guardians, battle-weary and ragged, stumble to their ships.

Phi has to be carried as does the Exo. “Ya know, we need to get sushi again,” Phi says as her Ghost flutters around her legs running scans.

“We’ll get sushi when we’ve had a rest,” Nes replies as they settle Phi carefully into her ship’s cockpit.

“Sounds like a plan,” Artemis says.

“Back to the Tower then?” Artemis’s Ghost asks.

“Yes,” Artemis answers, “back home.”

The ship sweeps her away and they fly home, the stars blurring around them as they make the jump to Earth.

The cheers that greet them are _loud_. Guardians fill the plaza, all bright colors and exuberant. Artemis and Nes escort Phi to the medical wing, escaping the crowds as quickly as they can.

“Do you think we can order take-out?” Phi asks drowsily, her pain medication kicking in and lulling her into a daze.

“Yes, Phi,” Nes says, managing a small smile. “After we take a nap.”

“Kay,” Phi mumbles and falls asleep.

Nes watches her for a moment then turns weary yellow eyes to Artemis. “No injuries?”

She shakes her head. “A few bruises. Nothing time won’t cure.”

“Good,” Nes says. “I got hit in the shoulder with a bullet. I’m okay, but it will scar.”

“You’re alive,” Artemis says, smiling. “That’s good.”

“True,” the Titan replies. “We are all alive.”

It is two days later when the Speaker gives a speech on the steps of the plaza, his words precise and measured, but joyful and glad nonetheless. Artemis watches from the balcony of Phi’s room.

“We need a team name,” Phi says, drawing her attention back from the crowd down below.

“True-sworn,” Artemis says, the name jumping to her lips. “For we are sworn to the Light and we have remained true.”

“True-sworn…,” Nes contemplates this for a moment. “Phi, what do you think?”

The bed-ridden Warlock hums, her bright eyes far away. At last she nods. “I like it.”

“Team True-sworn,” Phi says, grinning. “That’s us.”

Artemis walks over and sits beside her, clasping her hand. Phi reaches over and grips one of Nes’s hands as well.

 _True-sworn_. And Artemis can feel the weight of the name. It is a good weight, a grounding one, solid and firm.

“Sworn to truth,” Nes says.

“Sworn to battle,” Phi says.

“Sworn to the Light,” Artemis finishes.

_We are the True-sworn, and we shall not waver. Guardians, brave and true._


End file.
